LOCAL: note; Most of the city folk will not openly talk about the city gossip to outsiders, but you can listen in, overhear, and find the few who just have to talk. We all know them in real life.
1: Something has happened with the Order of the Snow during the months the group was resting in this area. About a month after the group arrived there was a lot of activity in the castle. People coming and going, now almost no one is traveling at all. After this the Order seemed more tranquil than before, less tension between the factions within the order. Very odd that no one in the order is talking about this, they just act as if nothing had happened at all.
2: Trade coming in from outside the city has been higher then normal. Mostly basic supplies along with some odd secret shipments.
3; It has been a very good hunting season, hunting game is plentiful, even some animals that are rare have been spotted in greater numbers than in recent years
4: Every character has heard of stories this winter inside the city. They are talking about the friendly ghosts that supposedly reside here and haunt the city. They seem to take items but most of the time payment is left behind to replace the goods. In fact the city folk believe it is a good sign of luck if they have such a ghostly visit. As far as anyone can tell the ghosts have lived here as long as the city has been here.
Greater news.
1: Inside the capital city of STARSHINE a number of fires broke out during the winter, one to the great library Not much damage was done in any of these events, but the number of fires has some people wondering if something is going on, some sort of attempt to burn the city?
2. Rumors are coming from outside the land that the number of raiding ships coming back with spoils has decreased in the winter months. More than in most winter seasons?????
3; Winter overall has been very peaceful, with the rainy season in it seems any conflicts between the last of the resistance and the Scarlet Order in the east has taken its normal cooldown period. I mean who wants to march and fight in the rain after all?
4 A new leader of the Emerald Order will be picked this spring "exact time unknown" in the city of Starshine. The old leader of the order is retiring to some remote and quiet place to spend out her final years in the peace earned for a job well done.
The Fox (5/21) 400 xp
We spent a little more time at the Temple with some interesting results. Hunter saw one of the ghosts. Arranz suddenly lost library priveleges without explanation. The last thing she had studies were folk songs about The Fox, the Cat, and the Bird, a series of stories where three friends got into troubles, (all 3 are constellations) The Bird and the Cat usually argued, and the Fox eventually got them out of the trouble. She is wise and crafty. Relevance?? Also, the White Temple confiscated all local maps of the area from all sources and we were unable to get anything.
The Whites weren't willing to set us up with a House, so we decided to head southwest with a caravan, where we would earn pay once out of civilized areas. We chose southwest because two battlefields and a haunted cave lie that way. We had to wait 2 weeks to find a caravan heading that direction, and Zephyr also saw a ghost during that time. Finally we left and got to the first battlefield without event.
At Dropbreath Manor we learned that it was a house with strong military tradition. During the civil war, Honne went there and killed everyone there, Everyone. It's the only time it happened during the whole war. We found a strong fortress that had been breached with bodies everywhere, rotted skeletons still in rusting armor. We encountered a satyr while scouting the outbuildings, and Mojo ran him down, but questioning him only told us not to defile the site, in remembrance of the goddess. We entered and found the battle remains still sitting there after a generation. Only the front gate of the wall and the keep were destroyed, but those were totally destroyed. Inside the keep the first floor was deliberately demolished, all wall carvings smashed. Weeks of work went into the devastation, and nothing remained without jigsaw puzzle work. We determined this area had been consecrated ground a generation ago, and for even a trace to remain, it must have been quite powerful at the time. We found little upstairs, but downstairs was a temple area, again so thoroughly smashed up that all traces of what deity was worshipped here was scoured clean. We did the jigsaw this time and managed to piece together and mend a silver back with gemstones showing the constellation of the Fox. The Fox is a deity, not just folk stories and songs. Or was.
The satyr came back at this point with friends, satyr and centaur, and demanded we leave now without looting (gold chalices, candlesticks, etc were scattered around, smashed, but still gold.). We showed them the mended constellation sign, and his attitude changed to friendly, but said an oath made him unable to explain who the Fox is/was. Upon hearing we had spoken to the Gremlin, he became almost deferential. Only the Druidess, the Lady of the Woods, The Gateway, could explain the situation, he said. He couldn't go with us, but gave us a short series of notes that might keep us from being killed outright if we go there. Several of us are determined to go.
We believe that the Fox (unknown deity), the cat (Tatemae), and the bird (Honne) were all three sisters set up to defend Predallen. Somehow, the Fox is gone now, with all traces gone, and after only one generation entirely forgotten. The characters suddenly remembered our vision at the healing pool, where the 3 goddesses saw for the first time the horrible suffering here and wept. We noticed now for the first time that deities shouldn't suddenly be surprised to find an entire continent filled with warring demons. We also realized that Predallen's hiddenness goes beyond what a good pirate fleet could do, this land is somehow hidden by power so strong that it kept Predallen a secret even from the gods. That power causes anyone thinking about these questions to simply dismiss their worries and ignore the issue. Could this same power have erased the third sister? Wow.
Conjectures: The Fox, the third protector of Predallen set up by Odin, was killed/banished by Honne a generation ago and is now totally forgotten. Are the Gremlin and the Fox the same being? Would bringing the Fox back restore this land to peace and a balance, the orders acting for the good of the people again? We were also told the children remember the songs: do we need to figure out the meaning of those songs and do something? Are we, as outsiders, somehow immune to this forgetfulness and are the only ones capable of restoring the Gremlin (Fox). Prophecies state a group of outsiders will somehow settle this issue. Is it somehow strange that we decided to head to the nearest ruins without any hint by Tom, and there we tie together the stories from the White Temple with info we really needed to know. Did the Whites confiscate the local maps in an effort to get us to investigate the local ruins/battlefield? Does the fact that the songs exist have anything to do with the retirement of the head of the Green Order?
Duh, Whadda wedo? (6/4, 400 total xp)
We ended in late afternoon, drizzle outside, at the ruined keep of Dropbreath Manor, and decided to spend a few hours searching for loot before heading out the next morning. During the night, a sudden quiet came across the area, followed by the sound of a stampede of giant rats heading toward the keep. We got lucky and got the window closed, and most just rushed over and by our ruined building, but some ventured close. We killed about 20 giant rats before that group was all dead, and Suibne and later Hunter followed the masses toward the keep. Inside the keep most of the animals (not just rats) headed downstairs, information that almost got Suibne killed as they aggroed him and forced him to run. As he ran, an invisible presence attacked him and tripped him. Hunter grabbed him and we got out quickly. A few of us could sense that presence, and saw the rain splattering off an invisible Fox-like shape. We ran, got the party packed and ran to get out, with our non-neutrals getting occasional nips as we ran to hurry us along. The satyrs later said they didn't think it was the Fox, it was her pet, back for the first time, probably because we restored the Fox constellation in the temple. They said they were all packing up and leaving; they weren't needed here anymore.
Our secondaries were sent off to gather stories about the Fox, Cat, and Bird while our mains went to the Druid Forest to seek guidance. As our mains went back eastward we came across 3 members of the Emerald Order who were quite happy to teach us Predallen history and tell stories about the Fox, Cat, and Bird. Tom related one whole story to us of the "Evil Uglies" and this trio of beings, (see Important Names section). We reached the edge of the Druid Forest without other incident and waited for someone to appear. The first night, pixies came and tapped on windows and doors, frustrating Pavelow, and when a messenger knocked on the door, Mojo answered, but both were insolent and wouldn't give their names, and the messenger left. The next morning both Hunter and Zephyr had some choice words to say. We then waited another 4 days before the messenger came back again, same watch. This time Mojo woke others up and we talked.
He said much the same as the Whites: we can't guide you except to repeat, "Find the ones who aren't there and talk to them." We pried some other information out of him, namely that there are three groups like us (including us), and one will end up determining the fate of Predallen. Different groups are reacting differently, including one Order (which?) that has decided to simply kill all three groups and stop any change. Anyway, thinking the clue meant the ghosts, we went back to the White Temple town and tried to find and make contact with the ghosts there. We had a few more sightings, but no possibility of contact. We were frustrated, and the DM was too. Finally we all felt that we were heading in the wrong direction, but to think back and remember all the hints given to us about where to go.
We have many hints to go to the capital city, but those hints kept sliding out of our minds, feeling like, sure, we must go there eventually, but no hurry. I guess we all missed our saving throws against this forgetfulness thing. Anyway, it seems that we must go to the capital city. The Gathering will be there, and there can be only One.
Off to the Capitol June-18 300xp
local time - 19-Feb-112
Learned of couple interesting stories of the ghosts. First story is of a beggar who got a "magic" winter coat from the "ghosts" a few winters back. She was slowly dying from the cold, having no clothes to keep warm. Then one day, a fur winter coat was placed by her hidey hole. It saved her life. Saffron was able to convince woman to show her "lucky" coat to several of party. The fur is not from any known animal to the group, but it does not radiate any magic per Detect Magic, it is just a very high quality winter coat. Second story is of a merchant when he gets drunk lets slip of his "lucky" coins that are special. Part of group tries to get him drunk and talk but get little info.
Asked around if any significance to the term "The people" but so far nobody locally thinks it is significant.
Group takes off on the main travel trade route to Starshine, capitol of Predallen. At a rest inn, hear story from a group coming from Starshine, they saw two "ghosts" running down road at capitol, then a few minutes later a fire breaks out in area the ghosts ran to. The ghosts were both male. After that the tale gets a bit more vast and wild. Later that night Saffron hears argument in hallway, two mercs were in disagreement on whether to report about our group, where we headed and other says no, "group not ready". We end up grabbing both of them and creating a bit of scene with inn owners, smoothed over by Saffron and some gold. The two mercs are on a silent contract, were paid to follow us and report our destination to unknown contact, they picked up our trail when we stopped again in Whitestown. Made deal for them to not follow us, the one merc is embarrassed they screwed up, it was so unprofessional.
We take off that night in pouring rain. Early morning, hold up in a barn. On watch, see a group of 10 heavily armed mercs, 8 fighter types on foot, 4 of them with polearms, 2 more on horseback including a half orc, super evil per detect spell. Mojo notices half-orc has tattoos, he is from (dun-dun-dun-dun) the "Black Tower". We follow them and they are marching pretty hard. We wonder if they are one of the other three "outcomes" group in competition with. We wondered if they were following us and gave them a chance to recognize us and attack, but they passed us by without even looking.
At one of the inns we stayed at, group heard of a different song/story of Cat, Bird and Fox and love. See Important Names section where both songs/stories reside.
(end of my notes for June-18)
Off to the Capitol
July-16 400xp
Mojo, Ace,
Pavelow
Ogrel
Arrenz,
Suibhne (aka Siv)
Hunter, Zephyr
local time 26-Feb-112
Continued to pace the Black Tower Half-Orc group on road thru valley leading to the plains to Starshine. Group curious if they would split off. Mid-day of traveling, we see a "traffic" jam ahead of us. Both directions on the road, wagons, horses and people all come to a stop and gathered in a circle on a spot in the road. Getting closer see some person sitting in meditative stance in the middle of the road.......... and it looks to be Honne, in some trance. The group moves thru the crowd and note Black Tower Orc group off to one side, a couple of us hear the BT Orc explain, "thats Honne, dont look so tough, we can take her!" but the 9 mercs are not buying it.
All but one of the crowd keeps distance about 30 feet, a merchant type has placed food and drink in front of Honne and bowing, asking what is her needs. Arranz does a detect magic and tries to dis-believe, thinking this is an illusion but seems real. Given that information, Hunter, backed up by Mojo, approach to 6 feet as rest of group scatters out in the crowd, a couple keeping on eye on BT Orc group. It looks like Honne but not "tortured" look we saw on the ship. Hunter bows and greets Honne, asking what assistance can the group provide, is there something wrong. The merchant whispers already asked that. A few minutes later, the BT Orc comes striding thru the crowd, clad in arrogance of the powerful as the people get out of the way. He then starts insulting Honne, looking dirty, sitting in the dust, and not moving. Hunter, Mojo, and Pavelow trade insults back. The BT Orc sneers at us "outsiders", seems to measure odds of conflict and then starts walking away.
Just when he gets to edge of crowd, Honne stands and faces the BT Orc, calling out a long line of names, their ranks like a lineage until gets to end with term "People Hunter", looking at BT Ork. BT Orc turns and shouts "How do you know that?" Honne replies, "You are nothing but a piece on the board, what you and your 2 other black tower members did to Big-Boy is wrong in taking control of him. " Honne shifts in height and color, complexion and face, going from 6-2 white/silver to red armor, copper hair, reddish complexion. "I am removing you from the board AND THE GAME!" . Suibhne attacks BT Orc, dealing a crit-hit (x4 scythe), Hunter also attacks but BT Orc has cast a blink on himself. Crowd scatters away like marbles poured on a floor, the BT Orc mercs form a defensive half circle of shields and polearms. Then this "avatar(?)" Red-Honne moves in eye blink, grabs BT Orc and throws to ground and pins him there sitting on his chest, laughing and deriding the orc attempts. Suibhne, watching Honne reaction, plucks a dagger from the orc. Seeing no dis-approval, takes a wand off the orc. Honne glances over and says, the boots are nice as well. Honne "avatar(?)" snaps the orc's neck, looks at the 3 of our group members closest, "you need to be in Starshine", then disappears. We ended up with 2 wands, a ring, necklace, magic boots, money and 2 gems.
The mercs and our group measure each other, they only want the orc body to complete the contract. Captain of the mercs, sells us info about Big-Boy, he was re-captured by 4 BT members, 2 orcs and 2 half-orcs. This BT member was looking for information in Starshine about a staff with 4 parts hidden in 4 locations. We then decide to start force marching, since we had taken the BlackTower half orc horse and got a pony for Orgel, we made much more speed. On the way, pass a procession of the Snow Order, hear locals in adoration mention "Sara", "person of the people", "she is a sweetheart", some elderly woman, high ranked in Snow Order, "she must be heading back to home in Whitestown".
Starshine is huge, especially imposing to some of group who thought Whitestown was impressive. Walls are hundreds feet thick, and interiors are sections of business and govt offices. We see a zoo of exotic animals and Ogrel gets carnival-eyes over glamour talk of "Crazy Joe's House Emporium of Magic-ry and Mightiness", you wanna a deal and go see Crazy Joe". Ace, Pavelow, Zephyr, Ogrel go visit Crazy Joe's, it has everything there. Tight security, no items allowed inside main store, must be kept in keyed locker. Hunter, Suibne, Arranz go to zoo, see way too many exotic animals, just not making sense. There are special animals here that we feel must have other-planar origins, they didn't develop here.
Next day, all but Mojo, who stays at the inn, head to library, we pay for a medium rank "library aide" to help in our investigation. We start in astronomy and mythology section, going over stories of constellations, Ace finds out the Gremlin has astral place that is part of constellation of the Fox. Hunter meanwhile asks a pageboy for stories of Cat, Bird, Fox, takes us to childrens sections where there are 100's and 100's of stories of the 3, pays for a library aide who tells of a fire that destroyed a main section of books about the legendary 3 animals. The destroyed section was all about stories of a messenger coming to Bird, Cat, and Fox with sad information that would change them all, not always in happy ways. We feel this was the messenger from Odin coming to tell them they would be changing from spirit creatures to demigods. The story was not clear if the message to all three was the same; perhaps only two were to be raised. The librarians all insisted multiple times that these stories are complete myths, just fun stories. All of us at some point encounter frustration from the aides, that they already explained to us about links of the 3 legend animals and Honne/Tatumae when we know they kinda vaguely chatted past it. As we leave, one of the aides who assisted Hunter, apologized for being rude, feels like she(the library aide) is forgetting something, perhaps could fund some research of old archives. We think that her zeal to discover what is missing will fade quickly and she'll forget the whole thing, but who knows?
Thats where I remember us leaving off.
Magic items rolled:
Pavelow got a wand of stinking cloud
Kevlar got a wand of magic missile
Suibhne got a ring of counter spell
Ogrel got amulet of +1 prot
Mojo got boots of elvinkind
413 gold per each of 10 characters.
Off to the Capitol(library search)
July-30 500xp for Kevin and Ed, left early
700 xp for others. Dave H, DR, Andrew, Doug, Clayton
Mojo and Siv see "Red" Honne/Fox warrior woman sauntering down the street; Mojo and Siv walk up and Mojo asks Why is she here and anymore Black Tower Orcs to kill? She smirks and says "Dont know what you are talking about". Mojo and Siv persist and she makes a scene "Hey dont know you guys" to get attention. Mojo and Siv say sorry thought somebody else but still tail her when she takes off. She meanders around like she is deliberately leading us away until comes near to library then heads straight in past guards but those guards block Mojo/Siv and said have not seen our "companion" as we describe "Red" Honne/Fox woman. Mojo/Siv wait for her, she comes out after half an hour, walks right past guards who do not see her. She tells Mojo/Siv, "you are in last place", then disappears.
Meanwhile, back at the inn, someone started a fire (in a fairly safe place) and had 2 illusionary men run out. Not sure who is doing that, group puts out the fire.
Next day the library is a blur of activity and commotion. The Predallen "Mind Blank" has been weakened or faded as librarians looking at research discover sections are incomplete, like all the theses were not taken to full conclusion and neither the writers nor reviewers ever noticed. This ties in with the fact the Black Tower Orcs came to Predallen deliberately, which surprised and disturbed the Predallenites. This ties in fact that pirates are not as successful lately in returning with loot. The library researcher is busy trying to assess the "damage", Zephyr spills guts out, tells of the Predallen "mind memory" compulsive lose, we are a Chosen group from prophecy. She tells us she will try to get more info and to come back next day.
Half the group goes to the astrology/astronomy section, no fires there, no missing research. They have a story of 4 part staff, to be used to get into the place "The Beginning of the End", we surmise the pool of tears where we had that vision. There was a story also of the only time the library was robbed, 100 years ago. A large well trained attacking group fought in and then out and sailed off in 3 ships. The Predallen Navy chased them and met and destroyed 2 ships and went home saying job done, but one captain states there were 3 ships, these 2 ships a diversion to delay navy. This captain was from the House of the Fox city where elite came from to serve all aspects of Predallen, including this well reknown captain. The two ships were destroyed at SeaCatt Reefs.
Go visit former Green "Emeralds" leader held in "house arrest" outside the city during retirement. We fake as reps from the library to ask questions of the former Emerald leader. She goes on and on and on talking, to keep our group at her villa until too late to leave. Zephyr "flirts" with her and she responds, until it's time for the group to retire, getting alone time with Zephyr. She said she knows the past is a lie, but she had to retire for health reasons, meaning would be killed if she tried to tell anyone. The orders came from Tatemae. She tells the group to follow the ship wrecks, and follow the "All", a being(s?) who the Order of Snow knows about. She states it is the Blues, the Azure order, who are out to get us, as the portents indicate this is a key moment in Predallen history/destiny. With people in every town, they know everything going on and are the power behind most of what is going on. The Outsiders will decide the future because they are neutral and will "Follow their Heart" to save or destroy Predallen. She then acts all huffy and opens the door and tells Zephyr she is not that type of girl, you barbarian pig. At this point Zephyr objects, saying she didn't call him a barbarian pig, but rather an uncouth presumptuous chauvinist pig.
We got word from the library the next day that more information is missing/incomplete, including much of the early time of the clearing/removal of demons. We decide it is time to go and check the shipwrecks at SeaCatt Reefs. Sneaking out of the city, we go to a town to the south west. This area is desolate, a source of the plague in the war. The people are very bitter versus Honne. The wilderness lore people of the party can tell something is keeping the land affected and the desert is being held in place 2 centuries now for some reason. Stories relate this to explorers going to deserted city ruins and caused a screw up. Both Honne and Tatumae had decreed this area was out-of-bounds as it contained evil sites:
Malmead ruins was controlled by a dragon type creature, very evil.
Fallwitch ruins was the seat of an evil female witch like creature
Dinaskampton was the location of the start of the plague.
-- Rumor says that the areas were cleared of demons, but the portals which they came through were only blocked, not destroyed.
We arrived at a south side small village, Mojo was able to contact a fisherman who knows to look the other way on dealings. Our initial story is we are heading to a nearby naval base/port town, but then told the captain we need the boat to go to the reefs. He says, 3 other groups had already been there, and after we paid him 200gp, we learned their descriptions and that two came back with a box each. He then took us directly to the spot.
1) Group of 3, from elven home lands, an elf, half-elf, and a human. Very arrogant, but fair. Got a box.
2) Azure order, 10 members, threatened our fisherman captain to keep his mouth shut. Didn't get a box.
3) Black tower, 2 orcs and a tattooed ogre (Big Boy) who all gave off a creepy feeling. They got a box.
The group is on an island in the middle of the reef where a ship is wrecked. Our fisherman captain states it is almost impossible for it to be there given the size of ship and the reefs all around; the ONLY way is to deliberately sail there during a storm or high tide. That's where we ended.
Summary of White Temple Events
Okay, news from around the world:
LOCAL: note; Most of the city folk will not openly talk about the city gossip to outsiders, but you can listen in, overhear, and find the few who just have to talk. We all know them in real life.
1: Something has happened with the Order of the Snow during the months the group was resting in this area. About a month after the group arrived there was a lot of activity in the castle. People coming and going, now almost no one is traveling at all. After this the Order seemed more tranquil than before, less tension between the factions within the order. Very odd that no one in the order is talking about this, they just act as if nothing had happened at all.
2: Trade coming in from outside the city has been higher then normal. Mostly basic supplies along with some odd secret shipments.
3; It has been a very good hunting season, hunting game is plentiful, even some animals that are rare have been spotted in greater numbers than in recent years
4: Every character has heard of stories this winter inside the city. They are talking about the friendly ghosts that supposedly reside here and haunt the city. They seem to take items but most of the time payment is left behind to replace the goods. In fact the city folk believe it is a good sign of luck if they have such a ghostly visit. As far as anyone can tell the ghosts have lived here as long as the city has been here.
Greater news.
1: Inside the capital city of STARSHINE a number of fires broke out during the winter, one to the great library Not much damage was done in any of these events, but the number of fires has some people wondering if something is going on, some sort of attempt to burn the city?
2. Rumors are coming from outside the land that the number of raiding ships coming back with spoils has decreased in the winter months. More than in most winter seasons?????
3; Winter overall has been very peaceful, with the rainy season in it seems any conflicts between the last of the resistance and the Scarlet Order in the east has taken its normal cooldown period. I mean who wants to march and fight in the rain after all?
4 A new leader of the Emerald Order will be picked this spring "exact time unknown" in the city of Starshine. The old leader of the order is retiring to some remote and quiet place to spend out her final years in the peace earned for a job well done.
The Fox (5/21) 400 xp
We spent a little more time at the Temple with some interesting results. Hunter saw one of the ghosts. Arranz suddenly lost library priveleges without explanation. The last thing she had studies were folk songs about The Fox, the Cat, and the Bird, a series of stories where three friends got into troubles, (all 3 are constellations) The Bird and the Cat usually argued, and the Fox eventually got them out of the trouble. She is wise and crafty. Relevance?? Also, the White Temple confiscated all local maps of the area from all sources and we were unable to get anything.
The Whites weren't willing to set us up with a House, so we decided to head southwest with a caravan, where we would earn pay once out of civilized areas. We chose southwest because two battlefields and a haunted cave lie that way. We had to wait 2 weeks to find a caravan heading that direction, and Zephyr also saw a ghost during that time. Finally we left and got to the first battlefield without event.
At Dropbreath Manor we learned that it was a house with strong military tradition. During the civil war, Honne went there and killed everyone there, Everyone. It's the only time it happened during the whole war. We found a strong fortress that had been breached with bodies everywhere, rotted skeletons still in rusting armor. We encountered a satyr while scouting the outbuildings, and Mojo ran him down, but questioning him only told us not to defile the site, in remembrance of the goddess. We entered and found the battle remains still sitting there after a generation. Only the front gate of the wall and the keep were destroyed, but those were totally destroyed. Inside the keep the first floor was deliberately demolished, all wall carvings smashed. Weeks of work went into the devastation, and nothing remained without jigsaw puzzle work. We determined this area had been consecrated ground a generation ago, and for even a trace to remain, it must have been quite powerful at the time. We found little upstairs, but downstairs was a temple area, again so thoroughly smashed up that all traces of what deity was worshipped here was scoured clean. We did the jigsaw this time and managed to piece together and mend a silver back with gemstones showing the constellation of the Fox. The Fox is a deity, not just folk stories and songs. Or was.
The satyr came back at this point with friends, satyr and centaur, and demanded we leave now without looting (gold chalices, candlesticks, etc were scattered around, smashed, but still gold.). We showed them the mended constellation sign, and his attitude changed to friendly, but said an oath made him unable to explain who the Fox is/was. Upon hearing we had spoken to the Gremlin, he became almost deferential. Only the Druidess, the Lady of the Woods, The Gateway, could explain the situation, he said. He couldn't go with us, but gave us a short series of notes that might keep us from being killed outright if we go there. Several of us are determined to go.
We believe that the Fox (unknown deity), the cat (Tatemae), and the bird (Honne) were all three sisters set up to defend Predallen. Somehow, the Fox is gone now, with all traces gone, and after only one generation entirely forgotten. The characters suddenly remembered our vision at the healing pool, where the 3 goddesses saw for the first time the horrible suffering here and wept. We noticed now for the first time that deities shouldn't suddenly be surprised to find an entire continent filled with warring demons. We also realized that Predallen's hiddenness goes beyond what a good pirate fleet could do, this land is somehow hidden by power so strong that it kept Predallen a secret even from the gods. That power causes anyone thinking about these questions to simply dismiss their worries and ignore the issue. Could this same power have erased the third sister? Wow.
Conjectures: The Fox, the third protector of Predallen set up by Odin, was killed/banished by Honne a generation ago and is now totally forgotten. Are the Gremlin and the Fox the same being? Would bringing the Fox back restore this land to peace and a balance, the orders acting for the good of the people again? We were also told the children remember the songs: do we need to figure out the meaning of those songs and do something? Are we, as outsiders, somehow immune to this forgetfulness and are the only ones capable of restoring the Gremlin (Fox). Prophecies state a group of outsiders will somehow settle this issue. Is it somehow strange that we decided to head to the nearest ruins without any hint by Tom, and there we tie together the stories from the White Temple with info we really needed to know. Did the Whites confiscate the local maps in an effort to get us to investigate the local ruins/battlefield? Does the fact that the songs exist have anything to do with the retirement of the head of the Green Order?
Duh, Whadda we do? (6/4, 400 total xp)
We ended in late afternoon, drizzle outside, at the ruined keep of Dropbreath Manor, and decided to spend a few hours searching for loot before heading out the next morning. During the night, a sudden quiet came across the area, followed by the sound of a stampede of giant rats heading toward the keep. We got lucky and got the window closed, and most just rushed over and by our ruined building, but some ventured close. We killed about 20 giant rats before that group was all dead, and Suibne and later Hunter followed the masses toward the keep. Inside the keep most of the animals (not just rats) headed downstairs, information that almost got Suibne killed as they aggroed him and forced him to run. As he ran, an invisible presence attacked him and tripped him. Hunter grabbed him and we got out quickly. A few of us could sense that presence, and saw the rain splattering off an invisible Fox-like shape. We ran, got the party packed and ran to get out, with our non-neutrals getting occasional nips as we ran to hurry us along. The satyrs later said they didn't think it was the Fox, it was her pet, back for the first time, probably because we restored the Fox constellation in the temple. They said they were all packing up and leaving; they weren't needed here anymore.
Our secondaries were sent off to gather stories about the Fox, Cat, and Bird while our mains went to the Druid Forest to seek guidance. As our mains went back eastward we came across 3 members of the Emerald Order who were quite happy to teach us Predallen history and tell stories about the Fox, Cat, and Bird. Tom related one whole story to us of the "Evil Uglies" and this trio of beings, (see Important Names section). We reached the edge of the Druid Forest without other incident and waited for someone to appear. The first night, pixies came and tapped on windows and doors, frustrating Pavelow, and when a messenger knocked on the door, Mojo answered, but both were insolent and wouldn't give their names, and the messenger left. The next morning both Hunter and Zephyr had some choice words to say. We then waited another 4 days before the messenger came back again, same watch. This time Mojo woke others up and we talked.
He said much the same as the Whites: we can't guide you except to repeat, "Find the ones who aren't there and talk to them." We pried some other information out of him, namely that there are three groups like us (including us), and one will end up determining the fate of Predallen. Different groups are reacting differently, including one Order (which?) that has decided to simply kill all three groups and stop any change. Anyway, thinking the clue meant the ghosts, we went back to the White Temple town and tried to find and make contact with the ghosts there. We had a few more sightings, but no possibility of contact. We were frustrated, and the DM was too. Finally we all felt that we were heading in the wrong direction, but to think back and remember all the hints given to us about where to go.
We have many hints to go to the capital city, but those hints kept sliding out of our minds, feeling like, sure, we must go there eventually, but no hurry. I guess we all missed our saving throws against this forgetfulness thing. Anyway, it seems that we must go to the capital city. The Gathering will be there, and there can be only One.
Off to the Capitol June-18 300xp
local time - 19-Feb-112
Learned of couple interesting stories of the ghosts. First story is of a beggar who got a "magic" winter coat from the "ghosts" a few winters back. She was slowly dying from the cold, having no clothes to keep warm. Then one day, a fur winter coat was placed by her hidey hole. It saved her life. Saffron was able to convince woman to show her "lucky" coat to several of party. The fur is not from any known animal to the group, but it does not radiate any magic per Detect Magic, it is just a very high quality winter coat. Second story is of a merchant when he gets drunk lets slip of his "lucky" coins that are special. Part of group tries to get him drunk and talk but get little info.
Asked around if any significance to the term "The people" but so far nobody locally thinks it is significant.
Group takes off on the main travel trade route to Starshine, capitol of Predallen. At a rest inn, hear story from a group coming from Starshine, they saw two "ghosts" running down road at capitol, then a few minutes later a fire breaks out in area the ghosts ran to. The ghosts were both male. After that the tale gets a bit more vast and wild. Later that night Saffron hears argument in hallway, two mercs were in disagreement on whether to report about our group, where we headed and other says no, "group not ready". We end up grabbing both of them and creating a bit of scene with inn owners, smoothed over by Saffron and some gold. The two mercs are on a silent contract, were paid to follow us and report our destination to unknown contact, they picked up our trail when we stopped again in Whitestown. Made deal for them to not follow us, the one merc is embarrassed they screwed up, it was so unprofessional.
We take off that night in pouring rain. Early morning, hold up in a barn. On watch, see a group of 10 heavily armed mercs, 8 fighter types on foot, 4 of them with polearms, 2 more on horseback including a half orc, super evil per detect spell. Mojo notices half-orc has tattoos, he is from (dun-dun-dun-dun) the "Black Tower". We follow them and they are marching pretty hard. We wonder if they are one of the other three "outcomes" group in competition with. We wondered if they were following us and gave them a chance to recognize us and attack, but they passed us by without even looking.
At one of the inns we stayed at, group heard of a different song/story of Cat, Bird and Fox and love. See Important Names section where both songs/stories reside.
(end of my notes for June-18)
Off to the Capitol
July-16 400xp
Mojo, Ace,
Pavelow
Ogrel
Arrenz,
Suibhne (aka Siv)
Hunter, Zephyr
local time 26-Feb-112
Continued to pace the Black Tower Half-Orc group on road thru valley leading to the plains to Starshine. Group curious if they would split off. Mid-day of traveling, we see a "traffic" jam ahead of us. Both directions on the road, wagons, horses and people all come to a stop and gathered in a circle on a spot in the road. Getting closer see some person sitting in meditative stance in the middle of the road.......... and it looks to be Honne, in some trance. The group moves thru the crowd and note Black Tower Orc group off to one side, a couple of us hear the BT Orc explain, "thats Honne, dont look so tough, we can take her!" but the 9 mercs are not buying it.
All but one of the crowd keeps distance about 30 feet, a merchant type has placed food and drink in front of Honne and bowing, asking what is her needs. Arranz does a detect magic and tries to dis-believe, thinking this is an illusion but seems real. Given that information, Hunter, backed up by Mojo, approach to 6 feet as rest of group scatters out in the crowd, a couple keeping on eye on BT Orc group. It looks like Honne but not "tortured" look we saw on the ship. Hunter bows and greets Honne, asking what assistance can the group provide, is there something wrong. The merchant whispers already asked that. A few minutes later, the BT Orc comes striding thru the crowd, clad in arrogance of the powerful as the people get out of the way. He then starts insulting Honne, looking dirty, sitting in the dust, and not moving. Hunter, Mojo, and Pavelow trade insults back. The BT Orc sneers at us "outsiders", seems to measure odds of conflict and then starts walking away.
Just when he gets to edge of crowd, Honne stands and faces the BT Orc, calling out a long line of names, their ranks like a lineage until gets to end with term "People Hunter", looking at BT Ork. BT Orc turns and shouts "How do you know that?" Honne replies, "You are nothing but a piece on the board, what you and your 2 other black tower members did to Big-Boy is wrong in taking control of him. " Honne shifts in height and color, complexion and face, going from 6-2 white/silver to red armor, copper hair, reddish complexion. "I am removing you from the board AND THE GAME!" . Suibhne attacks BT Orc, dealing a crit-hit (x4 scythe), Hunter also attacks but BT Orc has cast a blink on himself. Crowd scatters away like marbles poured on a floor, the BT Orc mercs form a defensive half circle of shields and polearms. Then this "avatar(?)" Red-Honne moves in eye blink, grabs BT Orc and throws to ground and pins him there sitting on his chest, laughing and deriding the orc attempts. Suibhne, watching Honne reaction, plucks a dagger from the orc. Seeing no dis-approval, takes a wand off the orc. Honne glances over and says, the boots are nice as well. Honne "avatar(?)" snaps the orc's neck, looks at the 3 of our group members closest, "you need to be in Starshine", then disappears. We ended up with 2 wands, a ring, necklace, magic boots, money and 2 gems.
The mercs and our group measure each other, they only want the orc body to complete the contract. Captain of the mercs, sells us info about Big-Boy, he was re-captured by 4 BT members, 2 orcs and 2 half-orcs. This BT member was looking for information in Starshine about a staff with 4 parts hidden in 4 locations. We then decide to start force marching, since we had taken the BlackTower half orc horse and got a pony for Orgel, we made much more speed. On the way, pass a procession of the Snow Order, hear locals in adoration mention "Sara", "person of the people", "she is a sweetheart", some elderly woman, high ranked in Snow Order, "she must be heading back to home in Whitestown".
Starshine is huge, especially imposing to some of group who thought Whitestown was impressive. Walls are hundreds feet thick, and interiors are sections of business and govt offices. We see a zoo of exotic animals and Ogrel gets carnival-eyes over glamour talk of "Crazy Joe's House Emporium of Magic-ry and Mightiness", you wanna a deal and go see Crazy Joe". Ace, Pavelow, Zephyr, Ogrel go visit Crazy Joe's, it has everything there. Tight security, no items allowed inside main store, must be kept in keyed locker. Hunter, Suibne, Arranz go to zoo, see way too many exotic animals, just not making sense. There are special animals here that we feel must have other-planar origins, they didn't develop here.
Next day, all but Mojo, who stays at the inn, head to library, we pay for a medium rank "library aide" to help in our investigation. We start in astronomy and mythology section, going over stories of constellations, Ace finds out the Gremlin has astral place that is part of constellation of the Fox. Hunter meanwhile asks a pageboy for stories of Cat, Bird, Fox, takes us to childrens sections where there are 100's and 100's of stories of the 3, pays for a library aide who tells of a fire that destroyed a main section of books about the legendary 3 animals. The destroyed section was all about stories of a messenger coming to Bird, Cat, and Fox with sad information that would change them all, not always in happy ways. We feel this was the messenger from Odin coming to tell them they would be changing from spirit creatures to demigods. The story was not clear if the message to all three was the same; perhaps only two were to be raised. The librarians all insisted multiple times that these stories are complete myths, just fun stories. All of us at some point encounter frustration from the aides, that they already explained to us about links of the 3 legend animals and Honne/Tatumae when we know they kinda vaguely chatted past it. As we leave, one of the aides who assisted Hunter, apologized for being rude, feels like she(the library aide) is forgetting something, perhaps could fund some research of old archives. We think that her zeal to discover what is missing will fade quickly and she'll forget the whole thing, but who knows?
Thats where I remember us leaving off.
Magic items rolled:
Pavelow got a wand of stinking cloud
Kevlar got a wand of magic missile
Suibhne got a ring of counter spell
Ogrel got amulet of +1 prot
Mojo got boots of elvinkind
413 gold per each of 10 characters.
Off to the Capitol(library search)
July-30 500xp for Kevin and Ed, left early
700 xp for others. Dave H, DR, Andrew, Doug, Clayton
Primaries
Mojo,Pavelow,
Saffron, Basil
Arrenz, Suibhne aka Siv
Zephyr, Obadiah
local time 27-Feb-112
Mojo and Siv see "Red" Honne/Fox warrior woman sauntering down the street; Mojo and Siv walk up and Mojo asks Why is she here and anymore Black Tower Orcs to kill? She smirks and says "Dont know what you are talking about". Mojo and Siv persist and she makes a scene "Hey dont know you guys" to get attention. Mojo and Siv say sorry thought somebody else but still tail her when she takes off. She meanders around like she is deliberately leading us away until comes near to library then heads straight in past guards but those guards block Mojo/Siv and said have not seen our "companion" as we describe "Red" Honne/Fox woman. Mojo/Siv wait for her, she comes out after half an hour, walks right past guards who do not see her. She tells Mojo/Siv, "you are in last place", then disappears.
Meanwhile, back at the inn, someone started a fire (in a fairly safe place) and had 2 illusionary men run out. Not sure who is doing that, group puts out the fire.
Next day the library is a blur of activity and commotion. The Predallen "Mind Blank" has been weakened or faded as librarians looking at research discover sections are incomplete, like all the theses were not taken to full conclusion and neither the writers nor reviewers ever noticed. This ties in with the fact the Black Tower Orcs came to Predallen deliberately, which surprised and disturbed the Predallenites. This ties in fact that pirates are not as successful lately in returning with loot. The library researcher is busy trying to assess the "damage", Zephyr spills guts out, tells of the Predallen "mind memory" compulsive lose, we are a Chosen group from prophecy. She tells us she will try to get more info and to come back next day.
Half the group goes to the astrology/astronomy section, no fires there, no missing research. They have a story of 4 part staff, to be used to get into the place "The Beginning of the End", we surmise the pool of tears where we had that vision. There was a story also of the only time the library was robbed, 100 years ago. A large well trained attacking group fought in and then out and sailed off in 3 ships. The Predallen Navy chased them and met and destroyed 2 ships and went home saying job done, but one captain states there were 3 ships, these 2 ships a diversion to delay navy. This captain was from the House of the Fox city where elite came from to serve all aspects of Predallen, including this well reknown captain. The two ships were destroyed at SeaCatt Reefs.
Go visit former Green "Emeralds" leader held in "house arrest" outside the city during retirement. We fake as reps from the library to ask questions of the former Emerald leader. She goes on and on and on talking, to keep our group at her villa until too late to leave. Zephyr "flirts" with her and she responds, until it's time for the group to retire, getting alone time with Zephyr. She said she knows the past is a lie, but she had to retire for health reasons, meaning would be killed if she tried to tell anyone. The orders came from Tatemae. She tells the group to follow the ship wrecks, and follow the "All", a being(s?) who the Order of Snow knows about. She states it is the Blues, the Azure order, who are out to get us, as the portents indicate this is a key moment in Predallen history/destiny. With people in every town, they know everything going on and are the power behind most of what is going on. The Outsiders will decide the future because they are neutral and will "Follow their Heart" to save or destroy Predallen. She then acts all huffy and opens the door and tells Zephyr she is not that type of girl, you barbarian pig. At this point Zephyr objects, saying she didn't call him a barbarian pig, but rather an uncouth presumptuous chauvinist pig.
We got word from the library the next day that more information is missing/incomplete, including much of the early time of the clearing/removal of demons. We decide it is time to go and check the shipwrecks at SeaCatt Reefs. Sneaking out of the city, we go to a town to the south west. This area is desolate, a source of the plague in the war. The people are very bitter versus Honne. The wilderness lore people of the party can tell something is keeping the land affected and the desert is being held in place 2 centuries now for some reason. Stories relate this to explorers going to deserted city ruins and caused a screw up. Both Honne and Tatumae had decreed this area was out-of-bounds as it contained evil sites:
Malmead ruins was controlled by a dragon type creature, very evil.
Fallwitch ruins was the seat of an evil female witch like creature
Dinaskampton was the location of the start of the plague.
-- Rumor says that the areas were cleared of demons, but the portals which they came through were only blocked, not destroyed.
We arrived at a south side small village, Mojo was able to contact a fisherman who knows to look the other way on dealings. Our initial story is we are heading to a nearby naval base/port town, but then told the captain we need the boat to go to the reefs. He says, 3 other groups had already been there, and after we paid him 200gp, we learned their descriptions and that two came back with a box each. He then took us directly to the spot.
1) Group of 3, from elven home lands, an elf, half-elf, and a human. Very arrogant, but fair. Got a box.
2) Azure order, 10 members, threatened our fisherman captain to keep his mouth shut. Didn't get a box.
3) Black tower, 2 orcs and a tattooed ogre (Big Boy) who all gave off a creepy feeling. They got a box.
The group is on an island in the middle of the reef where a ship is wrecked. Our fisherman captain states it is almost impossible for it to be there given the size of ship and the reefs all around; the ONLY way is to deliberately sail there during a storm or high tide. That's where we ended.